How Well Can You Eat on $4.90? Take the Cal Fresh Food Challenge!

How Well Can You Eat on $4.90? Take the Cal Fresh Food Challenge!
November 11, 2012 Betsy Stone
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Think you can get enough to eat on $4.90 a day? Now is your chance to find out! Take the Cal Fresh Food Challenge.

$4.90 is what individuals who receive Cal Fresh benefits (formerly known as food stamps) have to spend per day per person. This week, join the Sacramento Hunger Coalition, a project of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, to see if you can make it on that budget by joining the Cal Fresh Food Stamp Challenge, which ends Thursday, November 15, 2012 – exactly one week before Thanksgiving.

Here’s how it works:

  • Commit to spend no more than $4.90 on food for at least one day between now and Thursday, Nov. 15
  • Share your stories, recipes, photos and videos on RCFB’s Facebook event page
  • Try to only eat food that you purchase for the project. Do not eat food you already own (this does not include spices or condiments) unless you factor the cost of that food into your daily budget
  • Avoid accepting free food or beverages from friends, family, or at work, including at receptions, briefings, or other events where food is served

By participating, you’ll help raise awareness about hunger in our region and encourage year-round support for food banks, which often serve Cal Fresh clients when they can’t stretch that $4.90 per day far enough. We expect to distribute over 80,000 pounds of food to more than 5,000 people this month – people who are still unable to secure steady jobs that provide enough healthy food for themselves and their families. Last month, we provided food for more than 1,000 children and more than 200 infants in addition to seniors, disabled people and adults.

Click here to read what Amber Stott of Awake at the Whisk created for $2.27 per serving as her first meal while taking the food challenge: pumpkin oatmeal (recipe included)!

The Challenge will culminate in a press conference on November 15, 2012 at 9 a.m. at River City Food Bank. If you can, please consider joining us and donating healthy food or the money you saved.

Remember: please share your stories, recipes, photos and videos with us on Facebook or by emailing us: !

Co-Sponsors include:

Awake at the Whisk

California Emergency Foodlink

California Food Literacy Center

Health Education Council

– River City Food Bank

– None Go Hungry

Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op

Sacramento Vegetarian Society, Grange #8